As the number and scope of longitudinal investigations have expanded, so too have strategies for analyzing prospective data. Different analytic techniques are designed to answer different types of research questions. Person-centered approaches identify groups of individuals who share particular attributes or relations among attributes. They are well suited for addressing questions that concern group differences in patterns of development. Variable-centered approaches describe associations between variables. They are well suited for addressing questions that concern the relative contributions that predictor variables make to an outcome. This special issue includes conceptual essays and empirical reports designed to demonstrate the complementary strengths of these two different approaches. The articles illustrate how the integration of person-oriented and variable-oriented approaches can lead to a more complete understanding of the processes and patterns of human development.

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Additional Information

ISSN

1535-0266

Print ISSN

0272-930X

Pages

pp. 377-389

Launched on MUSE

2006-09-14

Open Access

No

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